Destiny’s child: UK man on 11A walks out alive

For 40-year-old Viswash Kumar Ramesh, it was a usual flight but just about 30 seconds after the Ahmedabad-London Air India flight took off, things changed completely. Within next few minutes, the plane had crashed.

Even as hundreds are believed to have died in the crash, the only positive aspect of the day was seeing Viswash walk out of the flame-engulfed 787 Boeing. He is now admitted to the Civil hospital in Ahmedabad.

“I believe in God. I am still waiting for my brother who was travelling with me,” Viswash said. “Thirty seconds after the plane took off, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed,” said Viswash, one of the few or perhaps the only survivor of the ill-fated Air India flight AI 171 that crashed soon after take-off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on Thursday. There were 242 people aboard the plane.

The plane crashed on the BJ Medical College campus.

Viswash, a British national, who occupied the 11-A seat in the plane, is in the general ward of the Civil Hospital. It was Viswash’s destiny that he survived. In fact, he walked into the hospital after he was brought in an ambulance. Viswash has received “impact injuries” on his chest, eyes and feet.

He had come to India for a few days to visit his family and was going back to the UK along with his brother, Ajay Kumar Ramesh (45).

Viswash said when he got up after the crash, all he could see were bodies around him. “I could not believe what I saw. I just stood up and started running. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital,” he said.

Viswash said he had lived in London for 20 years, adding that his wife and child too live in London. “They were scared but now know that I am alive. I am sad for all who have lost their lives,” he said.

It was destiny that though the two brothers had requested a seat together, due to high occupancy and last-minute requests, they could not sit together. “We visited Diu. He was travelling with me and I can’t find him anymore. Please help me find him,” he said.